American/Dutch halfblood

Male, 44, Netherlands

Nothing wrong with your eyes: I'm a 44yo gaming dinosaur. Started gaming at 5yo (Atari2600). Used to play NES/SNES at a cousins', but never owned any. Had an Amiga500 & GBC, after that my 1st console: N64. Besides Dreamcast & Xbox360 I own most Nintendo systems, because of the 'Nintendo difference'.

Recent Comments

@midnafanboy Old?
Well, me lad, survival horror is one of my faves, so no reason not to comment, even though my comment wasn't really on topic and slightly quick on the draw, resulting in a quick edit...

@Akira_1975 Completely agreed. Those short sighted and dumb comments are exactly what frustrates me too. I've tried the Oculus and it is WAY more immersive than some people seem to think or think they know, because they know nothing. The roller coaster is another good example of people trying to "get out" as if it were a true physical experience, even though they were sitting in a chair the whole time. I think some people here are confusing their idea of what VR "should" be with a holodeck...
Me personally, I'm REALLY looking forward to it and would also welcome Nintendo's take on this.@KnightRider666 I would like to see that happen too. Here's hoping. Although if they do, then maybe they should add a few more colors to it instead of just red and black...

@GraveLordXD Yeah, I know about Lukie games. What would you like to know? As far as I'm concerned their service is good and it's a reliable shop. They also send you an email to ask you if you're satisfied with the product and their service, which makes a positive difference to me, so if you're wondering if you should buy from them or not, then I would say that it is pretty safe to do so. And you could always try them out with something small first like a controller or a cheap game, just to see if you're happy with their service. I myself tested them out by ordering some game cases for my Game Boy Color, and they sent me some that were almost in perfect condition, so I was quite happy with that. If there are any more questions that you would like me to answer, let me know and I will get back to you, provided that it is something that I have experienced myself with Lukie games, obviously.

@Mega719 I understood that, I just compared the two to see if the voice acting in the older game was different or not. I do have to admit I was also a bit puzzled by "the protagonist seems to narrator everything he sees". But I'll go along with you so we'll just skip that one and hope that Nintendo really picks up on this instead of just preventing the name from being used by extending their rights over it.

@Mega719 I don't know if you own or if you have played the game, but If you truly want to have a bit of fun laughing at bad voice acting, look up the intro trailer for Disaster: Day of Crisis for the Wii...

@Quorthon Aw man, you too? I just chiseled three walls of text to explain why it shouldn't matter who's behind it. I do agree with you (obviously, since I already stated exactly the same in one of my previous comments) that it's probably just a renewal to prevent anybody else walking away with it.
Having said that, and although I love Retro and they have done nothing but respectful things with the two existing series that they took over from other developers, I don't know if they would be the right studio to take this one on.
And personally I loved the look and feel of the beta demo that I posted a video from in comment #45. It truly does have that Eternal Darkness vibe, and if a new studio picks this up, it is always the question if they can nail that. How would they go about it? Play the first game themselves and then go from there, or reverse engineer a remake of sorts? Can they even make a good horror/psychological game? They don't have any experience in that field.
Dyack and his new team got a lot of work done already and from reports the storyline is also as good as finished so it would be a shame to let that go to waste.
I know that tons of games fail to release numerous times for whatever reasons, so this one wouldn't be an exception in that case, but still.
Maybe Nintendo should just buy up everything made so far and let Retro finish it, maybe use Dyack as an advisor where the story is concerned. It would be really weird by the way if Nintendo did decide to make this and Dyack is also still continuing with his version. Then there will be two sequels and my money is still on the original creators since they have laid down the foundations and know where the story is supposed to go.@Mega719 I don't know if Sega is the big evil-doer here. Big Red Button had the CryEngine 3 at their disposal and besides the fact that we know that the people at Crytek themselves have said that it ran just fine on Wii U, you can also see that in the Shadow of the Eternals gameplay video. And in the second link underneath that the developers talk about how easy and user-friendly the engine is with applying several complex effects, so why Big Red Button wasn't able to make a really beautiful game with that is beyond me. Although some of the graphics were okay(ish) and had some more advanced effects, most of the textures could have been done on a last gen system, which makes me think that they only upscaled them. And don't get me started on all the octagonal shapes and rings, something that should be outlawed in current gen games.
As far as Shadow of the Eternals is concerned: I think that's a case of personal taste. I recently checked a playthrough of the original game and the voice acting was sort of similar there, and it was also praised as being good in that regard, so I guess it depends on the individual if it comes across or not. I also watched the video I posted earlier once again to see which parts bothered you. There's a book part at the beginning and one at the end. Neither one came across as overly dramatic to me, at least not any different than the original game. It has also been said that they had even recruited some of the very same voice actors, which seems like a good thing to me.

@electrolite77 First off: it's not what Nintendo meant with the GamePad (and the Wii U) but what it actually is. And the fact that it's capabilities aren't used doesn't mean that the potential isn't there. Blame it on Nintendo's marketing campaign not taking off with a bang...
I fully agree that being different just for the sake of it is silly, or rather just plain stupid. The point is that Nintendo isn't doing that; they're just following their own course/philosophy.
I partially agree on the third party point in that Nintendo should really come up with significantly improved hardware (although in reality it remains to be seen if Nintendo will do that) but that does NOT exclude them being able to offer something different, so besides the insides of the new console/handheld they should stick to their guns because that is what makes Nintendo the company that they are.
They should never blend into the masses by making the exact same product that only differentiates itself by some of its games and the label that is printed on the system.
If they decide to upgrade their hardware to a level that's good enough, AND they can fix their marketing campaign this time, they may well get third party support back for a large part, but I don't think that all of them will be back since relationships between them have really soured. And even when Nintendo acts like all the other good boys in console school, there will still be someone that wants to bully or shun them.
Some of it they probably deserved from way back in the 8 bit era where they truly had a stranglehold on the market and on a lot of third parties, but that is ancient history now. It's literally a new generation of management within Nintendo and they shouldn't be blamed for the wrong doings of the previous people in charge. To exaggerate the point: let's not blame the current generation of Germans for WWII...
As for your point about the GameCube's discs: I already said in my previous comment that it is just a small part and not only in my eyes a total BS excuse for third parties to say that developing for the GameCube was so hard and what not. The point is they HAD powerful hardware and still third party support dwindled away during its lifetime.
The hardware inside the GameCube was not only more powerful but reportedly also way more developer-friendly than the PS2's cell processor, and even the original Xbox had it's issues within the architecture even though it was based on a Windows 2000 kernel.
In short: all three had their own issues but that wasn't a big enough factor. It was more likely still Nintendo's strict rules if anything.
And consumers really don't matter that much, strange as it may sound, especially coming from me, a professional sales and marketing rep with over 14 years of experience. A good marketing campaign or a good setup in the stores controls consumers, NOT the other way around. It goes so far as to more or less completely control the thoughts and behavior of the target audience.
Just think of walking into a supermarket and walking out with way more than you wanted to buy because at key points within that supermarket they have placed special offers and so on, sometimes even with a now or never label prompting you to buy. Maybe you won't, but the masses will: that's marketing 101.
I could sell the proverbial iglo to an eskimo because I know what I'm doing and what's at stake if I don't sell. This is also the reason that it baffles me to this day how bad the initial Wii U marketing campaign was.
I also hoped you fully got the luxury car reference, because to see these in direct competition is equally silly, but apparently you didn't. Also, Nintendo doesn't have the bulk or the stamina to go into direct competition with the other two, even though they are still financially healthy. If they would go that route, it wouldn't last for very long.
There's also so many other differences between Nintendo and the other two companies that people tend to overlook or forget. This is Nintendo's core business so copying exactly what the others do may well put them in a very vulnerable position, one that they cannot afford to be in (again). The other two can survive without their console division just fine, even though Sony is now in bad weather as well and has to thank its lucky stars that the PS4 is doing so well.

@SKTTR Well, if you meant sinalefa: he is no hater, we were just having a normal discussion.
As for the game itself; apparently it is indeed still in development:http://www.que-ee.com/ (scroll down for their projects/games)

@sinalefa Have you watched the second one too? Obviously it's not on Wii U but compare the two and the difference is hardly noticeable. What I like about the second one is that they move freely through the engine to show all of the effects that they were able to switch on without loss of frame rate.
By the way: very astute of you, noticing that misspell. But concerning Dyack: (who was Chief Creative Officer and designer on Shadow of the Eternals; I looked it up because you made me question that) that is exactly my point. Even if he was a first class A*hole then it still shouldn't matter one little bit, to no one. F*** public perception, it's oftentimes uneducated and based on nothing. I've looked into it at the time and now I've looked into it again, but I can't for the life of me see the supposed evil in this man. In my line of work (Account Manager Sales & Marketing) I have to deal with a lot of people that talk out of their backsides, so I like to think that in the 14 years that I've been doing that, I should be more than able to smell the bullsh*t if someone is trying to pull a fast one on me.
After having read and watched several interviews with Denis Dyack, and also taking into account that some of Silicon Knight's most important people such as Shawn Jackson (Chief Operational Officer) and Kenneth McCulloch, the chief designer from the original game, stayed with him during the transition into the new company, (he has since been arrested for some rather disgusting sex offender charges, but that is besides the point) I have to truly wonder if Dyack's reputation hasn't at the very least been partially tainted by some of the angry employees that had to leave Silicon Knights after it got disbanded.
They may have been slightly biased and wanted to lay blame somewhere. From what I've read, Dyack certainly was a strict director, so he may not have been the easiest man to work with or for, but he was always very goal-minded and creative, so all in all that sounds like a positive thing to me.
Otherwise just judge the man for yourself by watching the interview on IGN. Either he isn't nearly as evil as his reputation now makes him out to be, or he is a damn good actor and I definitely don't see that last quality shining through there; he comes across as fairly genuine and as a director, which for all intents and purposes he still is.
But make up your own mind if you want, by watching the Shadow of the Eternals interview:

And a longer one; a podcast talking about remembering Eternal Darkness:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NXxMM25Co
In it, he is also really positive and full of praise concerning the collaboration with Nintendo and the people at Nintendo that helped him polish parts of the game.
As for Shenmue 3: I'm with you on that one, but a sequel to Eternal Darkness definitely makes it to my top 5 of desired games as well...

@sinalefa A lot of that is based on conjecture or hearsay, by no means proven. And the point was, to make it even more ridiculous, I don't care if Hitler made this game: if it's a good solid experience, then it is so regardless of who is behind it. The beta of Shadow of the Eternals that they already made under the co-guidance of Dyack (who was indeed responsible for part of the story so arguably he isn't completely replaceable) was already quite elaborate and rock-solid and showed a lot of promise. Either way you look at it, with or without Dyack, it is a shame that this beta is possibly lost forever without ever having the chance to grow into a full blown game.
Have you even seen the extended footage? Very nice graphics and effects, great story line and a rock solid frame rate, so a lot of good work has already gone into it.
For the sake of everyone who has missed or forgotten it, here's the first 9 minutes:

And here's some additional footage but this time with numbers and explanations while it runs, for all you tech heads out there:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlREuZz7MwE
P.S.
Also note some very familiar button prompts during gameplay, so you can see what it's running on, AND in CryEngine 3 no less.
Should show Big Red Button what can be achieved with that on Wii U if you actually put some effort into it...

@Nintendobro agreed.WARNING: wall of text ahead! @electrolite77 the Wii U's GamePad is no more a tablet controller than the DS is a tablet handheld. I've said it numerous times on numerous sites: the GamePad was in development well before any tablet was ever popular or a mainstream thing. Moreover, if you look at all of its capabilities it doesn't even come close to qualifying as a tablet. Unfortunately it's a monicker that has stuck with a lot of people. Blame bad media or Nintendo's own failure to market it in the right way.
It was simply something that originated from the idea of wanting to combine what the Wii and the DS could do, and then bring it to the TV screen and in HD, and this resulted in what you should actually see as a giant, detached Nintendo DS (NOT as a tablet) with the GamePad in place of the DS's touch screen and the TV serving as the top screen.
It's so painfully obvious that I always wonder why so few people appear to be able to get that.
So, for Nintendo this was no more than a logical step forward since they always use part of their previous technologies that worked for them in new systems.
Obviously this does not always have an equally successful outcome, but that is a risk that comes with the territory of innovating.
They will never, and I mean NEVER win over third parties when they would go for exactly the same hardware as the other two, history has already proven that with the GameCube and while some blame stuff like the mini DVD's for that, it falls way short of explaining the entire story, because during that generation all three consoles had their quirks that made it difficult to develop for to some degree.
The GameCube was a pretty good step up hardware wise from the PS2 and only marginally less powerful than the Xbox, although it trumped that console too as far as several effects such as lighting and transparencies go.
And that perfectly illustrates that being "samey" just doesn't work for Nintendo. And people that think that the games are enough to differentiate them (not directed at you specifically) are also wrong. Nintendo is first and foremost a console maker, and they work with the top down pyramid model meaning that they think of the games that they want to make and build the console to accommodate that, while the other two use the normal pyramid model which on the positive side seems to give the third parties way more to work with, because you have this large, spacious virtual container that you just dump your software in, but after that you need to work towards the top and that means you need more optimization.
In practice you can now see so many, many games (regardless of platform) not doing that correctly, not only resulting in day one patches, but also numerous updates and additional patches or in a worst case scenario complete re-installs (Assassin's Creed Unity) which, if you truly stop to think about it, is a downright disgrace and means that so many titles that are sold as full retail titles are actually broken pieces of software.
Nintendo does have some games that were patched afterwards, arguably because of them having to get used to HD programming (which, in all honesty doesn't really fly with me either), but most games are complete and of exceptional quality, just look at Captain Toad Treasure Tracker; may not be everyone's cup of tea but it is a truly solid product. And that is something that a LOT of companies, even much bigger ones, should take a lesson from.
Nowadays even brilliant developers working at some of these large companies are either forced to work with ridiculous deadlines or with publishers that decide how far their creativity is allowed to go, even if it could potentially yield better results. Money/profits and getting things rushed to the store are more of an issue nowadays than delivering straight-out-of-the-box solid gaming experiences without any need for a whole suitcase of digital band aids afterwards.
It wouldn't seem strange to me at ALL if some of the more professional developers get pretty frustrated sometimes if a game doesn't reach its full potential because of this.
So no, Nintendo definitely should NOT go that route, since it would serve them absolutely no purpose if they can't express their own philosophy and reach their full potential. The result is hit and miss, as previously mentioned, but overall Nintendo is a very successful company in it's own right.
And finally, one thing that is also always forgotten by so many people:
Just because there are several consoles on the market does NOT mean that they are in a race. The true console wars ended with Sega and Nintendo. From then on, Nintendo decided to plot it's own course and they themselves have time and time explained that they are not in this race and they have also very elaborately explained why.
It is therefore VERY presumptuous of people with no knowledge of the inner goings-on at Nintendo to say that they are and therefore should fight with similar weapons.
This may be a somewhat strange comparison, but use your imagination and go with it for the sake of the argument:
It's like saying that Bentley or Rolls Royce is in a direct battle with BMW and Mercedes just because they're all cars and they are all (more or less) in the same market segment. They're all nice and expensive cars, but only BMW and Mercedes are in direct competition with each other while the other brands are mostly tailor-made and for a specific audience, and the same goes for Nintendo.
Personally, while I definitely acknowledge and enjoy good games on other systems as well, I hope Nintendo continues to bring us new and surprising things, because they are truly the only gaming company that bring a big smile to my face 9 out of 10 times because of the pure quality of fun that only Nintendo can offer.
There's a reason that it's called The Nintendo Difference....

@Kirby_Fan_DL3 Then I'd go for a dedicated game shop or, if you don't have one around where you live you could always look at the alternative I gave you. For those prices it's well worth the risk.
And I don't know if you're a big fan of fighting games or shoot em ups (not to be confused with FPS games), but HORI also has a whole range of arcade sticks; appliances that come with a genuine joystick and big buttons stuck in a big box that you plant on your table or desk. Like it was ripped straight out of an arcade cabinet.
Just to give you an idea in case you've never used one, here's the Street Fighter IV Arcade stick:http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--F5jEzlV0--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/18j50shoui2cpjpg.jpg

Well, I'll admit it straight away: I'm one of the fans of Eternal Darkness and although it definitely wasn't perfect and did have some annoying flaws, it's still one of my favorite GameCube games. There, I said it.
Having said that, I personally think this extended trade marking probably means nothing other than preventing others to take the title and run, so I'm not getting my hopes up just yet unless Nintendo comes with an official announcement.
I would certainly welcome both an HD remake and a sequel, but if they do, I don't know if Nintendo should do the sequel themselves.
They should just scoop up the whole Shadow of the Eternals team and the stuff they have developed so far. People may have ignored or downright bashed their previous attempts at publishing their game, but to me the first impressions were quite positive and really nailed the Eternal Darkness vibe, so I was sad to see this fail because of truly pathetic people that apparently couldn't get over their ridiculous hatred of Denis Dyack. I could care less what kind of a person a games director or programmer is. As long as he or she brings me a game that offers me a great experience, then by all means: bring it on.
And the GamePad could finally be shown as something with true potential instead of the ball and chain that some people seem to think it is. Besides the obvious sanity effects there could be one that says that the connection to the GamePad is lost, screen on the Pad going black, moving the GamePad around your room to see things that are invisible on your TV screen, flipping controls, scary noises/whispers from the GamePad's speaker and I could go on and on. So much potential for a truly great experience. Oh well, a man can dream...

@Damo Nothing to be sorry for, although I'm pretty sure it was another bit of that typically British tongue in cheek humor...
As for me: apparently I'm also not the typical Nintendo fan. Next to all my Nintendo consoles and handhelds I also own a Sega Dreamcast and to satisfy my third party thirst last gen I gave in and bought an Xbox 360.
If I would truly care about such trivial things as console/computer wars, then I should probably be more appalled by the fact that you owned an Atari ST instead of a Commodore Amiga. Back then I had an Amiga 500 and the battle between the two systems was every bit as harsh as Nintendo vs Sega, although it may not have been as widely known as those two.
Over here people mostly bought Atari ST computers if they were more into (making) music, but other than that it was the Amiga that ruled. But like I said, as far as I'm concerned it was never anything and will never be anything to lose sleep over.
I do have to wonder about your Mortal Kombat remark; although that might have been true for the original trilogy of games, I'm pretty sure lots of parents wouldn't want to see their little kids playing the current Mortal Kombat games. It may be fantasy but the fatalities are still quite gruesome because of the enormous step up in detail since the 16 bit era. We probably all laugh at it, but it might not be all that healthy and educational for some of the more younger kids...
As far as Christmas and Nintendo are concerned, I always get somewhat of a festive feeling when playing Nintendo games, Christmas or not. But I do have some similar memories of extended 4 player sessions of Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye that were both truly hilarious and epic. Nintendo just has a knack for bringing pure, unadulterated fun with a capital F. I don't know how they do it, but they do and even at my age (44) it still makes my face split into a massive, ear to ear grin once I start up another one of Nintendo's gems. The Nintendo Difference is definitely a thing...

@Kirby_Fan_DL3 I should have added a smiley, hope you weren't offended...
It does seem to me from what you said, that you were very unlucky and I can imagine your hesitation.
Anyways, the bit about HORI was serious, obviously. I would buy one without a doubt. If there is a local game store near you that allows for games and controllers to be tried out before buying, I would go there so you can find out if they are the right controller for you without hurting your wallet...
On a side note: I have frequently bought third party controllers from www.tmart.com. They have almost any controller no matter what console and they have exact replica's as well and the ones I bought are still working after years of intensive use. And the price aren't too shabby either. They also have a warehouse in the States, so depending on where you're at, you should also experience fast delivery. And they send you your order with no extra charge for delivery.
Here, safes you the search in case you want to take a look:http://www.tmart.com/search.html?typeid=&q=game+controllershttp://www.tmart.com/search.html?typeid=&q=game+controllers+wii+wii+u

@Kirby_Fan_DL3 I was actually wondering what the hell you were doing with these controllers to break them so easily other than throwing them around or stomping on them...
It is true that a whole lot of third party controllers feel cheap and often times they somehow seem to feel lighter in weight than the real thing, but I've had my fair share of third party controllers and although a couple of them have indeed given up on me over time, I still have some third party wireless GameCube controllers here that I've used since I got my Wii and they still work just fine.
As for HORI controllers, like @JaxonH said: they are in a completely different leaugue. Nothing comes closer to the real thing than these things. HORI has an exceptional track record and is known in the business as a company that delivers what they promise. They also have some really good arcade sticks for just about any console out there.
I've been using my HORI controllers for longer than you've been alive and I still have all of them, so if that isn't a testament to their quality and durability, I don't know what is.
If you need or want a good third party controller, HORI is always a safe bet.
The only "problem" (if any) that I have with this particular controller is that, as a fan of the original GameCube controller, it's just a Classic Controller in disguise, so it misses the real analog shoulder buttons with the extra button underneath them.
For most veteran Smash Bros players the adapter that allows actual GameCube controllers to be used will probably be their first choice, I reckon.
On the other hand, this disguised Classic Controller is of course much more versatile because you can use it with many, many more games, as long as they support Classic Controllers...@Ichiban That's one way of looking at it. He could also just be jumping over it...

@Quorthon That makes two of us being surprised. Although to be honest, most Xboxes around here are either controlled by parents who don't know what's what or they just don't seem to care that much. I picked up SSX yesterday for the 360. It was on my list but I never got around to buying it, so now I got it for free. And it makes for an appropriate game for the holiday season...
As for the games on offer in general: I stepped into the Xbox360 train a little late myself, so I was always "one COD behind" most of my friends and I missed out on some titles completely. Since it was my first Xbox, I've also collected quite a number of Xbox originals that are compatible with the Xbox 360. But you're right: they have indeed improved and to be fair to Microsoft a lot of the Arcade titles that they put in the mix are also quite enjoyable and most people may not even have bought these otherwise.
Also, some of the games on offer for the Xbox One seem pretty decent too. I wouldn't be able to tell obviously, since I haven't got the console. I have already "purchased" all the games for it up til now though, since I figured out you can do that even if you haven't got an Xbox One because the free game offers are simply related to having an Xbox Live Gold account.
I have no idea how long this free game campaign is going to last, but for me it means that I'm setting myself up for a humongous backlog of games to play once I finally own an Xbox One. Which will be AFTER I've bought a Wii U...
I'm with you on the spaceships-and-aliens and Kingdoms of Amalur, but we already concluded that last one previously. I can agree on the other games as well: I have all of them. Xenoblade even with the special red Classic Controller.

@Quorthon I know the feeling: you should see the stack of Xbox360 games that I have here still wrapped in foil...
No time to play them, or not enough time, but I still bought them because they might become unavailable at some point and there are some games or series that you definitely have to own on certain consoles.
That's also the reason that I'm already buying Wii U games, so as not to miss out on these games once I own the console.
I've got the whole Dragon Age series as well, barely played for an hour.
I figured you already knew about Games with Gold, but since a surprising number of Xbox owners in my own circle of friends and family wasn't aware, I sort of made a habit out of pointing it out to people. Better safe than sorry, right?

@Quorthon A small tip:
Are you aware of all the free games that come with an Xbox Live subscription? It's called "Games with Gold" and you can either find it on the Xbox website or on the dashboard of your Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It's two free games for each console each month, so it's always worth it to check it out every other week to see if they offer something that you would like to have. The titles on offer vary from the older retail titles for Xbox 360 to Live Arcade titles for both consoles:http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/games-with-gold?xr=shellnav
Unfortunately I don't have a Wii U (or any of the other two consoles) yet, due to personal circumstances that are "slightly" more important than buying a games console. But in the end I will get one. I did already buy some games for it, so I'll be ready to start playing straight out of the box once I have the console.
No pressure on Xbox 360 gaming, just add me whenever and I'll see the message. If you decide to stick with the Xbox One instead we obviously can't play a game together, but we can still communicate through Xbox Live messaging.

@Quorthon Funny bit I have to share with you first: I was a bit tired when I logged on and in taking a quick look at your comment I thought it said "Ah to hell with you and @Kaze_Memaryu". Luckily I recovered quickly and saw I misread that....
So, with that out of the way, here's my actual response:
No need for apologies, it was quite an interesting conversation. Between you and this nice guy that I'm going to address in a minute I'm almost getting a "Christmassy" vibe what with all the decency and kindness going on. A rare thing on the open sewer that is called the internet. (by the way, I have to give credit to an acquaintance of mine who came up with that phrase, but I do like to use it because it definitely has some truth to it)
As far as Watch Dogs is confirmed, that is more or less along the lines of what I was thinking myself, so they were truly talking out of the other end when explaining to the media that they would use the extra time to fully utilize the capabilities of the GamePad. From a customer/gamer point of view it's almost infuriating that all they have come up with is a map, the most basic of functions you could use the GamePad for. I really don't blame the dev team because they probably just did as they were told or were given only so much time and space to get it done.
Still, it would have been nice to have another truly exceptional example of why third party games can actually be good on Wii U instead of something half baked. They (my "evil" marketing colleagues) spun the BS tale afterwards, knowing full well that it won't sell and therefore they almost feel justified to not put in the full effort(?) or something. And of course it opens the door to being able to step away from the Wii U altogether because this game will "obviously" show why third party games don't sell on Nintendo's console.
That's both a terrible waste and a self fulfilling prophecy that even a blind man could see happening. And I had the same issues with the Wii U version of Mass Effect, or rather with the timing of it's release, because the game itself is rather solid and actually makes good use of the GamePad.
But what idiot colleague of mine decided it was a good decision to sell that at full price around the same time that other platforms got the full trilogy for practically the same amount of money? But I digress, we're completely off topic now...
As for having good for nothing people in your team, I can share some stories with you on that: I once trained a team of five newly recruited sales reps and only one has survived. Some where good but just not quite good enough to make it, but some of them truly didn't have a clue what they were doing and that made me question the capabilities of the guy in our company that is responsible for hiring "new sales talents"... Oh, well...
By the way: if you still use your Xbox360 you're welcome to join me in a game or a private chat, which would also work if you have an Xbox One. The tag is in my NLife profile, but it'll be no surprise...@Kaze_Memaryu Yeah, that's a thing with fanboys with blinders on, but if you look at it objectively, that may also stem from Nintendo themselves nearly always showing others how it's done where showing what's possible on their hardware is concerned and they do come up with some truly marvelous results, on the Wii U as well. And to me the differences (besides the art style) aren't all that big. It only shows in the more ambitious third party titles, but I do think that given time and actually optimizing instead of doing nearly nothing for six months should yield good results, even on Wii U.
And I do believe you yourself also mentioned something about the importance of graphics being overrated in a previous comment (#96) so that is also something that people without blinders use in discussions. For me it's a bit of both: ideally, you should have a good looking game with great controls and an interesting and compelling storyline where applicable (since some types of games really don't need a story) but in defense of lesser graphics: I'd rather have a game looking less nice but with the story and gameplay still intact than a beautiful game with lousy controls and a bad or next to no storyline.
And that is also why I agreed with your initial comment that started this whole discussion where you went into the topic of why developers seemed to be more creative in the golden age of console gaming. And no worries about your answer. After all the giant walls of text it was just fine by me. Me, I just came up with another wall of text, which is what you get when you're an elaborate person like me and want to reply to two people in one comment...

@Quorthon No worries man, I wasn't offended by any of it.
Also, to me it wasn't really a competition of sorts, more a bit of a difference of opinion, albeit somewhat erroneous on my part.
As for comment #114: that's not all for me, although I did throw myself into that discussion, but it started with @Kaze_Memaryu.
I also wasn't trying to insult or generalize, and like I said I wasn't insulted by any of your comments as well. The you coming across a bit harsh was no more than an observation based on several comments of yours across several articles.
Me, I like a discussion with some intelligent content and you are well able to provide just that, so I actually want to thank you.
By the way: if I were you, I wouldn't be too insulted if someone mentions something bad about developers/programmers or makes blanket statements. Take me for example: I'm 44 years old and I've been a sales & marketing professional for more than 14 years now, mainly in IT and/or related markets, so I have done some game related work.
As a Nintendo fan and observer of all the marketing-related criticism aimed at them, I could also say that there's some generalization going on there as well but I'll be damned if I let it get to me. I've got better things to do with my time and energy.
One last thing and totally off topic: as a developer yourself, I would be very interested to know what your thoughts are on what the hell was done in those extra six months to release the Wii U version of Watch Dogs and all the discussions surrounding that.

@Quorthon I know, which Is why I already said that I stand corrected. I never feel too big to admit that somebody else besides me could actually be right.
It's probably my eternal handicap of wanting to elaborate WAY too much that prompted you to make another elaborate comment in return.
In short: we're in agreement, there was a little bit of discussion but in the end, no harm done.
And we even like the same games! Up til now I haven't been able to find many people that like Kingdoms of Amalur or Bulletstorm. And Eternal Darkness also seems to be somewhat of an acquired taste, even amongst Nintendo fans and/or GameCube owners.

@Quorthon I never cherry pick or special plead, at least not intentionally. Therefore no caveats or underlying meaning to what I say. I mean to say or write exactly that what is displayed in my comments. (I have to admit that, especially with larger walls of text, I do edit a lot because I feel some things I say, or rather how I say them, could be interpreted differently, and I want to prevent that as much as possible, but obviously you can never completely prevent that. Case in point: me misjudging you)
The reason I consciously chose to leave out the portables is because of the series you mentioned in comparison to Zelda (COD, Assassin's Creed, Halo etc) because not all of these have portable siblings, so it's only fair to only compare their main games on home consoles. I also didn't count the portables in the number of COD games, so the comparison was fair in that aspect.
And some of the Zelda games you mentioned aren't full blown Zelda adventures, but you already added those side notes here and there.
So, taking into account all of the numbers in the way that you intended them, does indeed show there's a yearly Zelda game across the various platforms, but the score is still in favor of Zelda: not counting the examples you yourself called debatable they've released 20 Zelda titles since 1998, and 24 COD titles since 2003, so more titles in a shorter time span whichever way you look at it. Personally, I also wouldn't consider the Zelda Collector's Edition to fit that list, since that wasn't available in retail. I myself got it from the Stars Catalog and I'm on the fence about Hyrule Warriors, since it's not a true Zelda game but a Dynasty Warriors game with Zelda wallpaper. And we also shouldn't count games that haven't been released yet, so disregarding Zelda U the total amount of Zelda games now comes to 17.

But even with that number I stand corrected because it's still a yearly release. And in retrospect, maybe I also shouldn't have taken COD as an example because I don't think it's even in the same league as Zelda, quality or story wise. And COD lovers might use the skewed argument that because COD games are released by two studios every other year they're "not really" yearly and make something nice of that to further the argument...

@Zombie_Barioth You talking about the arcade and the relationship with home consoles also made me think of games that still displayed the message "insert coin to start" or something similar. Mostly on Neo Geo, but there were some arcade conversions on other systems that still used that as well.@ogo79 Wanna share some examples? You made me curious...

@Quorthon That could very well be the case and I also looked at both options in one of my previous comments. (#88) And the picture in the article is also a dead giveaway that the screen is not bendable after manufacturing: of what use would that be in a car dashboard? But you could imagine a screen similar to that of the Galaxy Note Edge on a handheld quite easily and the hole could be used for the things I mentioned in comment #88. Of course all of this is still a rumor and although the sources are supposed to be reputable, nothing is confirmed as of yet so maybe there won't be a hole in the screen at all. And looking at the dashboard picture the holes could also be on the edge of the screen.
By the way: even though I fully agree with @Kaze_Memaryu you did make some good points in your last comment to him as well, and taking both these into account, the truth will probably be somewhere in the middle. I actually re-read your comment after first breezing through it thinking you were just being obnoxious and just continued to disagree or wanted to force your opinion, but then I saw some of my favorite games at the end of your comment (Kingdoms of Amalur, Eternal Darkness, Bulletstorm) and I decided to really read what you had to say this time and it does make sense for the largest part. (although in general you can come across as a bit harsh sometimes)
My personal view of things is slightly different: even though publishers (and to some extent consumers) decide what kinds of games need to be made, it is still up to the programmers to make sure that the final product is as good as it can be, and considering how many bugs/glitches large games contain nowadays that is certainly not the case. And when @Kaze_Memaryu mentioned junk files, Watch Dogs came to mind immediately. That game not only still contains the E3 texture files, there's also left over audio and other data in it. None of it necessary and even though they left out the higher res textures in the final product, the game is still under-performing.
I also agree with his point about creativity being lost, and to me that's also because of the hardware: contrary to Nintendo, who design hardware around the games they want to create (doesn't always work out, I know) the others just offer a humongous container that has so much room that most games don't even use it. You just throw in your program without much optimization if any (heck it's x86 architecture so it's almost a PC in a box) and the bugs are ironed out after selling the product, because people think getting day one patches is normal nowadays.
In the older generations of consoles people did indeed have to be more creative to get more out of it and to get the hardware to do what they were aiming for. Beautiful graphics are fine and all, but you do need good gameplay and a story to go with it, and not an interactive movie interrupted by a quick time fest or something similar. Or a game that looks nice but has elements that control like a brick (the cars in Watch Dogs for example)
It's like comparing a sniper with a guy with a machine gun: one has to be very precise to get a result and the other just shoots and shoots, knowing he will eventually hit something anyway. One of the end results is pretty messy, though. To bring that back to programming we can replace messy with buggy/glitchy...
As for Zelda being a yearly product that is also somewhat debatable: I just look at the home console games, not the portable versions because there are more series that have portable games as well as home console versions. I also don't count re-edits.
So, taking that into consideration and starting from the N64, there's just these games up till now: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and as an exception to the re-edits I'll add Wind Waker HD because it was a new game to some people owning a Wii U that had never played it on the GameCube. That's just six large Zelda games in total since the 21st of november 1998 (the release date Ocarina of Time). Compare that to say, Call of Duty, and you'll find that they have released a total of 14 games in the main series since 2003, once again not taking into account the re-edits (and expansion packs) for each of them.
So, if you do the math, then that's roughly one Zelda game every two and a half years (2.6 to be exact), compared to one Call of Duty game almost every 10 months (0.78 years to be exact). And the fact that the players and (to some extent) the story is known in Zelda games, is a given. Miyamoto has once said that maybe Link and the others are simply actors in a play, the stage changing each time, but the characters remaining more or less the same. And it is also what is expected, otherwise they would have to change the name of the game, so a Zelda is always going to be in it.
And as for Link: I do not know if you know where that name comes from, but just in case: his name is to be taken literally, so he is a link to connect the player to the game world. That's also why he doesn't have a voice. Both are supposed to make it easier for the player to identify himself/herself with the hero. That may of course result in various degrees of success, depending on the ability of persons to immerse themselves into a story or game world or not. Some people can identify themselves with almost any character they play, and others need a little help.
Oh, and rest assured that I will buy project STEAM and Splatoon and will certainly motivate other Nintendo gamers that I know to do the same. They are indeed interesting franchises and deserve all the love they can get from us gamers.

@Zombie_Barioth Yeah, after I wrote that comment and let it sink in, it actually started to make some sense and sound plausible, especially if you consider all the humdrum about Nintendo on mobile technology and such, but we'll just have to wait and see what these quirky people over at Nintendo are going to come up with in the end. I'm pretty sure it'll be fun...@MIDP The technology allows for screens to not have the standard required form, which is mostly rectangular or square. It can be round, a triangle or even a totally strange form like a cross or whatever.
And to add to that, now other parts of the device that this technology is used in, can also be used as a screen surface, such as with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, where the sides of the phone are also part of the screen:http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/03/samsung-galaxy-note-edge-hands-on/
How it could work:http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/samsung-patent-reveals-how-its-curved-3-sided-phone-could-work-1200840#null
The free form technology mentioned in this article is NOT to be confused with a flexible screen:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_display
What it does allow for, is to manufacture screens in many different forms, and with displays on the sides and there are even some concepts being made up with screens all around, so you could also have a display (or part of a display) on the back of a phone/handheld device. And because of the free form possibility, both screens could have a different form, like for example in a phone the backside could have a small circle displaying a clock.
Most important though, and a thing that some people trying to be funny are completely missing, is that the shape of the screen can only be set during the manufacturing process, so it's NOT bendable afterwards.
Hope that makes things clear for you.

My two cents:
If this would go towards QoL, then a hole in the middle could make sense to be able to mount the display on top of something like an an extension/arm on a hospital bed or some other medical device. If it would be for "regular" gaming use, it could be a place to insert a touch screen pad (not sure if this LCD screen is also a touch screen, but apparently not) or button controls (remember, nowhere does it mention the shape of the hole so it could also be a square or a rectangle) or, if it is meant to be used in the GamePad v2 then it could also be an option to be able to mount it onto another contraption to make it into a steering wheel, sniper visor or whatever else you can think of.
It's always nice to fantasize about things like this, but in the end Nintendo will probably still surprise us all, like they always do. For better or for worse...

@Caryslan A lot of that also had to do with getting to grips with the hardware and the limits of the hardware. Sometimes they put in a bit more than the hardware could handle and in other cases the functionality that they desired simply wasn't possible (yet), resulting in gameplay possibly feeling wooden, choppy and whatever other negative label you can come up with. To me some of those things are actually the charms of those older games (remember the inertia in some games? made for some pinpoint button pressing), and yes that is seen through rosy colored spectacles because it concerns my youth, but I still enjoy these games today, even in light of the games I play on later and current consoles.@Joetherocker Most of us probably died a lot when we first started gaming. I can't even remember how many times in my life I've seen the words "Game Over" displayed on a screen, but it's definitely into the several thousands. As for you and Mega Man: to your credit you at least understood that it takes time and you need to keep trying to get better at it. Most teens your age and younger just don't seem to have the patience anymore or can't get over how ugly the graphics are. And yet they play Minecraft and other indie games that are designed to look almost exactly like those "ugly" 8 or 16 bit games, but that's another discussion entirely...

@Einherjar My "essay" on difficulty wasn't directed at you, but I did agree with all the points you made before that and for me challenge in a game is a sign that there is a serious difficulty setting, so that is why I mentioned you in the comment as well.
And I VERY much agree with the last three points you just made...

P.S.

I actually think that games like Animal Crossing do offer some kind "difficulty" or challenge. Namely that some people will probably have to "force" themselves to slow down and find satisfaction in just tinkering with no true goal other than owning a house, having a job, managing your garden and so on in a game world that looks like it came out of a fairy tale/Sesame Street. And the fact that if you want to truly play this game as it is meant to be played, you should visit your house/village every day.@Darknyht Yeah, I have to agree with you there. Mega Man is a particularly harsh example of a game to give kids their first 8 bit experience with. But on the bright side: almost everything you play after Mega Man will probably be a lot easier. Even some of the other infamous 8 bit games...

@Larryislife No offense, but your comment #16 completely misses the mark. Games weren't harder to increase playtime at all. They were hard because they were meant to offer you a challenge and give you a true sense of achievement when you finally defeated the final level or boss.
That happens way too little nowadays, with tutorials for almost the whole part of a first level, in game hints in plain sight, regeneration and what not. I don't know how young you were when you started gaming or if you're a retro gamer, but other than that the games that @einherjar@ricklongo (you both made some good points by the way, gentlemen) and me are more than likely thinking about (other than Mega Man) are from WAY before you were even born, so I don't think you'd truly be able to relate to them as we do.
You're "supposed" to spend weeks on end with them, gradually inching your way to the end by playing a level (or two if you were good) every day and not by breezing through a game within the space of six hours or less, ESPECIALLY with the prices that a lot of these bite sized experiences have in today's market.
Luckily there are also quite a few good and intensive games left, but the larger part is still too easy by comparison, and in some genres such as first person shooters that is also because they give more (too much?) attention to the multiplayer part, so the actual solo "adventure" that you think you are going on is over before you know it and does little more than wet the appetite, which (besides the attraction of the multiplayer) might possibly be why these games and their sequels are selling so well.
I do agree with you on the fun part of games, but for me personally, a true sense of having finished the game by overcoming the obstacles it places in front of me is also a large part of enjoying it. As far as I'm concerned it should contain both fun and some serious difficulty options, not just one or the other.

@JaxonH very well said, completely agreed.ON TOPIC:
Wow, some people... This guy is just trying to fill a hole in the Wii U's catalog and maybe he isn't the most humble guy around, but the amount of negativity and idiocy spouted concerning this game is simply staggering.
The only thing that this game has in common with Minecraft is it's overall appearance, or rather: the blocks that the game world is made out of. The main character looks VERY different (better imho) and the variable game modes are also enough to differentiate this game from Minecraft and could very well be an interesting addition.
If we're going to judge this game for some of the (rather shortsighted) reasons such as given in a lot of the comments here, then we should also point the finger at Terraria and similar games. These are also virtually the same except for changing the perspective to 2D.
Maybe we shouldn't knock it till we tried it, huh? Videos and images never tell the whole story where games are concerned.

@sevex They were somewhat, but they still had a fair bit of (uncalled for/unnecessary) criticism, and this verdict is more positive in comparison.@electrolite77 Yeah, I know. But those were damn near impossible to deny, because they are solid experiences (if we forget about the glitches in NFS Most Wanted for a moment. Then again: of course that wasn't a first party title) Obviously I was making a sarcastic joke, but if you look at the big picture, it truly does seem that (compared to other platforms) they are quite critical of Nintendo's games in general, even though Nintendo is the ONLY company that is leading in ways of optimizing software on their own hardware and squeezing every ounce of juice out of it to show others how it's done.
With the advent of the Wii U & 3DS we are now also starting to see some patches and updates on Nintendo systems, but in general they are still the least faulty publisher in the entire industry, so to be splitting hairs about a drop of 1 to 2 frames every second is totally ridiculous to say the least and it's hardly relevant in actual gameplay, which they also confirmed themselves.
Needless to say that it should actually be the other way around since we're talking about 8 player games here, so a drop of ONLY two frames per second is bloody damn marvelous in any sane person's book.
It's not like they offer us multiplayer with the frame rate cut in half as well as a major drop in overall resolution, like so many other companies on other platforms seem to be struggling with...@Kifa It is virtually impossible for most people (let's say 99.9999%) to see a stutter of one frame in every sixty, seeing as your eye would have to be able to notice a sixtieth of a second EVERY second. Good luck with that without any technical aids. Drops are quite easily noticeable when the difference is 15 frames or more for most people and between 5 to 10 for the people that know where to look, but anything between 1 to 3 is as good as unnoticeable.@arnoldlayne83 Those games are pretty entertaining in their own right (although I would argue that Drive Club is a poor man's Forza Horizon and is definitely trumped by Project CARS) but all of them drop resolution when going to multiplayer mode into somewhere around 900p instead of the promised native 1080p and that is mainly because of them not being able to keep a steady frame rate otherwise, so they have to make a trade off there with resolution for frame rate. Now I couldn't give a damn about a game not being 1080p as long as it looks nice and plays great, but if you are unable to deliver what you promised, then you shouldn't advertise what you haven't been able to achieve; in the case of Killzone the promised 1080p is even mentioned on the game's box, but it actually doesn't achieve it on screen. Prior to their release, the next gen systems promised us not only 1080p native resolution but also a rock solid 60fps for ALL games, yet on both counts they don't deliver in all but a handful of them, and no one back then ever said that those numbers would only be attainable in single player mode... (and there are more than enough games that even manage to fall short there)

@Kirk Thanks for the rather elaborate explanation of your point of view. With that in mind it seems to me that we only disagree on minor things, since most of what you explained now makes perfect sense.

P.S.

Sorry for the late response. Somehow, I'm not getting updates by email anymore when somebody responds to my comments, so I have to check that "manually" now...

@OorWullie You must have missed those discussions then. Just Google "Nintendolife" and "Mayflash" and you'd be surprised how many times it actually already HAS been mentioned on here.One example I can give you is the NLife article that first mentioned the GameCube controller adapter, in which it is discussed by several NLife members...

@Thats-what-shy No, I think you misunderstood me there. I meant in regard to the list of Wii games compatible with the GameCube controller: Even if the Wii U had GameCube compatibility, you'd still not have the controller ports on the hardware and it is seriously doubtful if GameCube VC is ever going to come to this generation. I'm betting on the next console for that.
This time around some more HD remakes might be coming and maybe some of them will be made compatible with the 4 player adapter, but other than that you would need an original series one Wii with GameCube ports to be able to use the controller on more games. (don't know if you own any on that list I linked to)
To give you an example: I use the GameCube controller on the Wii with Need for Speed Nitro, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, The Naruto games, SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Metal Slug Anthology, Klonoa and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, obviously...

@Thats-what-shy You're very welcome. I'd just give 'em a call if I were you. They probably have a helpdesk or something or just send an inquiry by email. Don't forget the article nr. and such or you'll spend more time mailing them than you would like to.
So I'm guessing you don't have a backwards compatible Wii then, since you stated to only be able to use the controller for SSB?
I myself would also go for the original, the controls just feel better and the analog shoulder buttons make for a more ergonomic experience in my humble opinion, also because of the way they are shaped vs the ones on the pro controller.